"I've taken all the positives from it. I could be dead," Brady Barron said.

For Barron, 16, a purple cast now covers a brutally close call. It happened two weeks ago when the Methuen varsity hockey forward collided with a competitor. Both went flying, and a skate blade sliced deep into Barron's wrist.

"I saw a couple of drops of blood," trainer Janielle Martin said.

Martin, a critical care nurse filling in as athletic trainer that night, was the first to notice the pain etched on Barron's face.

"Then as he started to fall, I saw the wrist," Martin said.

A blade severed a dozen tendons, several nerves and an artery. It's a moment Barron's father still struggles to relive.

"I knew what it is to sever an artery and what's the worst that could happen," he said.

But Martin knew what to do, and with the help of others, they stopped the bleeding until EMTs arrived.

"I put pressure on the artery just above the laceration … kept his arm above his head," Martin said.

It was only after emergency surgery that doctors explained how quickly Barron could have bled to death.

"We were talking about it and they said, 'You had two minutes,'" Barron said. "When I heard that I was in shock."